Every parent knows it. You have a newborn baby and suddenly sleep takes on a whole new meaning.
Babies wake up several times during the night for a variety of reasons; hunger, being wet, colic, figuring out the difference between night and day, etc.. As the parents we wake up with them, it's almost like a radar system...kind of neat how mother nature has built that into us.
This waking throughout the night lasts for a few months. Parents become increasingly exhausted because of it being coupled with the stressors of the daily waking life; work, house, family, etc..
It's often quite obvious when a person has a newborn in the house. They just look tired from the lack of sleep. They get through it though. They struggle and find their way through those months until finally the baby begins sleeping through the night. Slowly but surely the parents' sleep pattern returns to normal and things move along.
For us we began this sleep depravity exercise in 2007 when Ava was born. No sooner was she sleeping through the night we had Henry in 2008. This was by design as we wanted to have our children be close in age with each other. In June of 2010, Ella came along. At that time we looked forward to when she would be sleeping through the night...there was a light at the end of the tunnel.
Enter SMA.
When Ella was diagnosed with SMA in August of 2011 she was still taking her daytime naps. As we all know, the little ones need those naps (as do the parents!). Ella always slept well during her naps. The nighttime sleeping however was a different story.
When we reached the point when a baby should be sleeping through the night Ella did well. But later, apparently as her disease progressed and after getting all of her medical equipment, it took her 1-2 hours just to fall asleep and in that time we would have to re-position her since she could not do it herself. Once she fell asleep and we were able to get to bed, she would wake up at least 4-6 times a night to be re-positioned, needing an adjustment on one of her machines, or having her feeding tube cleaned out after her nighttime feed had finished (usually around 3 or 4 am). So by the time we actually fell asleep (around 10 or 11 pm) to the time we had to get up for the day (5 am), we had been woken up several times.
We were exhausted.
Recently Ella has given up her daytime nap. It was a bit rough for her to make it through the day without the nap, but she definitely didn't want to take the nap anymore. The rough part, however, was well worth it. For when she gave up that nap she all of a sudden fell asleep within minutes of being put down at night. She now sleeps peacefully and restfully throughout the night. We still have to take care of her feeding at 3:00-4:00am, but that takes all of 45 seconds, and it's a one time wake up (like having to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night). There is the occasional wake up for other reasons but that just goes with the territory of having kids; Ava and Henry sometimes still wake up and we have to be with them as well. Surprisingly to us, the SMA, now that Ella has given up the nap during the day, does not seem to rear it's ugly head overnight anymore.
But something strange occurred. Something that we didn't really realize until just recently. Something that has made quite a difference in our lives.
Dreams.
As we were getting up with Ella for such a long time before she gave up that nap we were actually disrupting any dreams we were having. We didn't really realize it though, probably because we were simply too tired. In fact, looking back it almost feels like we weren't dreaming (although I'm sure that's not the case)...but the dreams were never remembered, or "complete".
Now that we are actually able to get a good night's sleep, something that has eluded us since 2007 (wow...six years!) the difference in our energy level, attitude, and overall health is amazing.
We feel more focused, more in tune with reality, more socially-oriented, and more able to care for our kids. We really missed the full-out dreams; the ones that seem to have a beginning and an end; the ones that seem to make no sense when you think about them but you know they made sense when you were having them; the ones that even if you get woken up once, you can find your way back to them; not to mention those dreams that you can't wait to tell about to somebody.
A piece of our lives has been returned to us, and with all that we have gone through and must go through in the future in terms of SMA, we are forever grateful to have our dreams once again.
Sleep tight little one.
Babies wake up several times during the night for a variety of reasons; hunger, being wet, colic, figuring out the difference between night and day, etc.. As the parents we wake up with them, it's almost like a radar system...kind of neat how mother nature has built that into us.
This waking throughout the night lasts for a few months. Parents become increasingly exhausted because of it being coupled with the stressors of the daily waking life; work, house, family, etc..
It's often quite obvious when a person has a newborn in the house. They just look tired from the lack of sleep. They get through it though. They struggle and find their way through those months until finally the baby begins sleeping through the night. Slowly but surely the parents' sleep pattern returns to normal and things move along.
For us we began this sleep depravity exercise in 2007 when Ava was born. No sooner was she sleeping through the night we had Henry in 2008. This was by design as we wanted to have our children be close in age with each other. In June of 2010, Ella came along. At that time we looked forward to when she would be sleeping through the night...there was a light at the end of the tunnel.
Enter SMA.
When Ella was diagnosed with SMA in August of 2011 she was still taking her daytime naps. As we all know, the little ones need those naps (as do the parents!). Ella always slept well during her naps. The nighttime sleeping however was a different story.
When we reached the point when a baby should be sleeping through the night Ella did well. But later, apparently as her disease progressed and after getting all of her medical equipment, it took her 1-2 hours just to fall asleep and in that time we would have to re-position her since she could not do it herself. Once she fell asleep and we were able to get to bed, she would wake up at least 4-6 times a night to be re-positioned, needing an adjustment on one of her machines, or having her feeding tube cleaned out after her nighttime feed had finished (usually around 3 or 4 am). So by the time we actually fell asleep (around 10 or 11 pm) to the time we had to get up for the day (5 am), we had been woken up several times.
We were exhausted.
Recently Ella has given up her daytime nap. It was a bit rough for her to make it through the day without the nap, but she definitely didn't want to take the nap anymore. The rough part, however, was well worth it. For when she gave up that nap she all of a sudden fell asleep within minutes of being put down at night. She now sleeps peacefully and restfully throughout the night. We still have to take care of her feeding at 3:00-4:00am, but that takes all of 45 seconds, and it's a one time wake up (like having to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night). There is the occasional wake up for other reasons but that just goes with the territory of having kids; Ava and Henry sometimes still wake up and we have to be with them as well. Surprisingly to us, the SMA, now that Ella has given up the nap during the day, does not seem to rear it's ugly head overnight anymore.
But something strange occurred. Something that we didn't really realize until just recently. Something that has made quite a difference in our lives.
Dreams.
As we were getting up with Ella for such a long time before she gave up that nap we were actually disrupting any dreams we were having. We didn't really realize it though, probably because we were simply too tired. In fact, looking back it almost feels like we weren't dreaming (although I'm sure that's not the case)...but the dreams were never remembered, or "complete".
Now that we are actually able to get a good night's sleep, something that has eluded us since 2007 (wow...six years!) the difference in our energy level, attitude, and overall health is amazing.
We feel more focused, more in tune with reality, more socially-oriented, and more able to care for our kids. We really missed the full-out dreams; the ones that seem to have a beginning and an end; the ones that seem to make no sense when you think about them but you know they made sense when you were having them; the ones that even if you get woken up once, you can find your way back to them; not to mention those dreams that you can't wait to tell about to somebody.
A piece of our lives has been returned to us, and with all that we have gone through and must go through in the future in terms of SMA, we are forever grateful to have our dreams once again.
Sleep tight little one.
